Well, I'm from Australia. We have a free press, individual wealth, a strong democracy, pluralism, the right to protest … so I do not see how we are a socialist, regardless of health care. They also have public health systems and private, which, though imperfect, we were not paralyzed. In fact, we the first out of recession. So … I'm waiting for a crackpot to explain to me as an option publc is a slippery slope toward socialism. To Sofia paragon of intelligence and cowardice: Your country also caused a global recession. His country is one of the few that remain mired in it.